Dustin McGowan has travelled many hard miles to get to this point in the remarkable renaissance of his career, but there are still hurdles to clear.

Saturday, McGowan made his first Grapefruit League start of the spring and it was a good one. He worked two solid innings against the Astros, He tossed 24 pitches and threw strikes with his fastball (stadium gun said 96 m.p.h., Jays’ gun said 94).

Next time out, presumably Thursday, McGowan will likely throw three innings, as long as his arm comes out of yesterday’s game without discomfort.

“The biggest thing is he was throwing strikes with all his pitches,” said GM Alex Anthopoulos.

“I like what I see coming out of his arm but I liked what I saw at the end of the year last year. As we get deeper into camp, we’ll know a little more.”

The truth is, there is going to be some anxiety every time McGowan throws, not only in the spring but through the summer as well. His thrice surgically-repaired shoulder has held up well through the extensive rehab program of the past year.

If he earns a spot in the Blue Jays starting rotation, there will be arm-management issues all season.

“The true test is six months of being a starter, seeing the innings mount,” said Anthopoulos. “It’s a grind, it’s a long year and he‚ll go through soreness.”

Simply from an endurance standpoint, McGowan will be limited. He once threw 170 innings in a season, but that was five years ago. In the past year, he has thrown 56 professional innings and perhaps 30 more in controlled situations.

His return to the rotation is not just about this year. It’s about reviving a career in a way that it can last well into McGowan’s 30s.

“He can’t pitch a whole season,” said Anthopoulos. “No way, and he’s been told that, too. Whether he’s on the team or not on the team, he was told that in our (pre-camp) meeting. You can’t go from 30 innings to 200, especially with what he’s been through. We will be careful to monitor every step of the way.”

If Anthopoulos sounds like a nervous parent, he has a right to be. He has stayed with McGowan every step of the way from his last start in July 2008 until now, signing him each year, cheerleading the progress and stoically absorbing the setbacks. Nobody outside McGowan himself and his family is more emotionally invested in this story than Anthopoulos.

In many ways, after all the effort on both their parts, he owes it to McGowan to be this cautious.

“This has a chance to be a great example of loyalty on both sides,” said manager John Farrell. “The organization stood by (McGowan), they believe in him as a person and as a pitcher.

“And then there’s (McGowan’s) loyalty to continue to stay committed to the rehab process. The early returns have been very positive.

“I’m sure there were a lot of lonely times, a lot of lonely days when he was the only one — in addition to Alex who kept signing him back — that believed in his ability to return and be a big league pitcher. It’s a medical marvel in some ways but to see what’s coming out of his hand, there’s no denying the power and the action.”

McGowan took out the Astros in order in the first inning, finishing it off with a strikeout of J.D. Martinez. In the second, with one out, Jack Cust reached base on an error by Jays second baseman Kelly Johnson, then Chris Johnson flared a single into right. McGowan ended his day by inducing a double-play ball to Johnson off the bat of Brett Wallace.

“It just felt good to get out there and start competing again,” said McGowan. “Getting the first one under the belt.

“For the first time in a long time I (feel normal) and I feel great. I get to pitch every five days now so I hope that’s normal.”

As sharp as he was, McGowan has things he’d like to improve. Soon enough, he’ll take his curveball out of mothballs and start working on that.

“I still have a couple of things that need to be fine tuned. I haven’t really started throwing the curveball. I’ve thrown a couple in the ’pen and after throwing a couple I said let’s not throw that one again.

“It’s something I’m going to work on here in the next few weeks because I’m going to need that to try to take off a little bit of speed off of a pitch. I gotta get working on that.”

McGowan didn’t know and didn’t really care, what the radar gun was saying.

“Once you get to the big leagues it don’t matter how hard you throw anymore,” he said. “These guys can hit anything. I don’t care if you throw 105, if it’s straight, they can hit it.

“You have to learn how to pitch and rely on location and movement. Velocity helps to a certain point, it helps you get away with some things, so it’s nice in that aspect to have but it’s something you don’t worry about anymore at this level.”